HIST232: Modern Middle East and Southwest Asia

Unit 1: Imperialism and IndpendenceIn this unit, we will examine how European nations exercised political
control over the former Ottoman territories and shaped the political and
social development of these states as part of their broader empires. We
will also look at how the inhabitants of these states responded to
European imperial rule and how the growth of independence movements in
the Middle East and Southwest Asia threatened European control over the
region. At the end of World War I, Great Britain and France oversaw the
dismantling of the defeated Ottoman Empire. The covenant of the new
League of Nations mandated that Britain and France administer and advise
the former Ottoman territories in the Middle East “until such time as
they are able to stand alone.” In practice, these “mandate territories”
became extensions of the colonial empires of Britain and France. During
the 1920s and 1930s, colonial administrators controlled the internal
political affairs of Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Palestine, Transjordan,
Egypt, and Libya. Only Turkey and Iran exercised significant political
independence from European domination.

Unit 1 Time Advisory
This unit will take you approximately 21 hours to complete.

☐ Introduction: 5 hours
☐ Reading: 1.5 hours

☐ Web Media: 0.5 hours

☐ Lecture: 1.5 hours

☐ Subunit 1.1: 2 hours

☐ Subunit 1.2: 2 hours

☐ Subunit 1.3: 1.5 hours

☐ Subunit 1.4: 1.5 hours

☐ Subunit 1.5: 3 hours

☐ Subunit 1.6: 1 hour

☐ Subunit 1.7: 4 hours

☐ Subunit 1.8: 1 hour

Unit1 Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of this unit, the student will be able to:

Identify and describe the political, economic, and social
consequences of 20th-century European imperialism and the Mandate
System for the peoples and nations of the Middle East and Southwest
Asia.

Analyze how European involvement in the economic development of
Middle Eastern states provoked political and social unrest that
destabilized the region in the 20th century.

Instructions: Please read the entire webpage to better understand
the causes, conduct, and consequences of World War I. This reading
provides the background necessary to understand the subunits that
follow.

Instructions: You must disable pop-up blockers before attempting to
view the video. Scroll down the webpage to find lecture 47. Then,
click on the VoD icon to begin the lecture. Please listen to
Professor Eugen Weber’s entire lecture (approximately 28 minutes) to
learn how World War I became a turning point for the Middle East.
This website hosts an entire series of lectures produced by WGBH
Boston called “The Western Tradition.”

Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use
displayed on the webpage above.

Instructions: Click on the above link. You might be asked to
launch iTunes before you can access the lecture. Scroll down to
find Lecture 15. Please listen to the entire lecture (approximately
80 minutes), which addresses World War I and its effects on the
Middle East.

Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use
displayed on the link above.

Instructions: Please click on the link above, and then click Listen
(or click download for the mp3 version) to hear this program
(approximately 9 minutes), which explores World War I in the Middle
East and its legacy for the region. This program also provides a
brief overview of WWI’s effects in the Middle East.

Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use
displayed on the webpage above.

Instructions: Please click on the link above, and read the entire
document.

1.1.2 League of Nations’ Class A Mandate Status
- Reading: Yale Law School: Lillian Goldman Law Library’s version of
“The Covenant of the League of Nations, December 1924”
Link: Yale Law School: Lillian Goldman Law Library’s version of
“The Covenant of the League of Nations, December
1924” (HTML)

Instructions: Please read this entire webpage in order understand
the League of Nations covenant.

Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use
displayed on the webpage above.

1.1.3 British and French Administration of Former Ottoman
Territories
- Lecture: iTunes U: Columbia University: Richard Bulliet’s W3719
History of the Modern Middle East, “Lecture 16: The Time Between
Wars”
Link: iTunes U: Columbia University: Richard Bulliet’s W3719 History
of the Modern Middle East, “Lecture 16: The Time Between
Wars”
(iTunes U Audio)

Instructions: Click on the above link. You might be asked to
launch iTunes before you can access the lecture. Scroll down to
find Lecture 16. Please listen to the entire lecture (approximately
76 minutes), which addresses British and French administration of
various countries in the Middle East. This lecture also addresses
the topics outlined in subunits 1.2 through 1.8.3 of this course.

Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use
displayed on the link above.

Also available in:
[EPUB](https://resources.saylor.org/wwwresources/archived/site/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/French-Mandate-of-Syria-and-Lebanon-Thomas-Collelo.epub)
Instructions: Please read this entire webpage in order to get a
sense of France’s administration of its mandate in Syria and
Lebanon. This reading also addresses the topics outlined in
subunits 1.2.1 and 1.2.2 in this course.
Terms of Use: The article above is released under a [Creative
Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License
3.0](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) (HTML). You
can find the original Wikipedia version of this article
[here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Mandate_of_Syria_and_Lebanon)
(HTML).

Reading: US Library of Congress: Thomas Collelo, ed.’s Syria: A
Country Study: “World War I” and “The French Mandate”
Links: US Library of Congress: Thomas Collelo, ed.’s Syria: A
Country Study: “World War
I”
(PDF) and “The French
Mandate”
(PDF)

Instructions: Please read these entire webpages to better
understand the emergence of France’s mandate for Syria.

Instructions: Please read this entire webpage in order to get a
sense of Britain’s administration of its mandate of what became
Iraq. This reading also addresses the topics outlined in subunits
1.3.1 through 1.3.4 of this course.

Instructions: Please click on the above link, and then scroll down
the webpage to find TheBritishMandate.pdf (note that the links on
this webpage are listed in alphabetical order). Please click this
link, and then read the entire PDF (3 pages) to learn about
Britain’s administration of its mandate of what became Iraq. This
reading also addresses the topics covered in subunits 1.3.1 through
1.3.4 of this course.

Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use
displayed here.

Instructions: Please click on the above link, and then scroll down
the webpage to find IraqiSociety.pdf (note that the links on this
webpage are listed in alphabetical order). Please click on this
link, and then read the entire PDF (4 pages) to learn about the
evolution of Iraqi society in the twentieth century. This reading
also addresses subunits 1.3.1 through 1.3.4.

Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use
displayed here.

Instructions: Please click on the above link, and then scroll down
the webpage to find TheKurdishQuestion.pdf (note that the links on
this webpage are listed in alphabetical order). Please click on
this link, and then read the entire PDF (5 pages) to learn about
Iraq’s Kurdish community.

Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use
displayed here.

Instructions: Click on the above link. You might be asked to
launch iTunes before you can access the lecture. Scroll down to
find Lecture 17. Please listen to the entire lecture (approximately
83 minutes), which addresses tensions between Palestinians and
Zionists in interwar Palestine. This lecture also addresses the
topics outlined in subunits 1.4.1 through 1.4.4 of this course.

Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use
displayed on the link above.

Instructions: Please read these webpages in their entirety to
better understand Egyptian politics and culture during and after
World War I. These readings also address the topics outlined in
subunits 1.5.2 through 1.5.4 of this course.

Instructions: Please read these webpages in their entirety to
better understand Italian control of Libya.

Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use
displayed on the webpages above.

1.6 The Turkish Republic
- Reading: US Library of Congress: Helen Chapin Metz, ed.’s Turkey:
A Country Study: “The Young Turks,” “World War I,” and “Atatürk and
the Turkish Nation”
Links: US Library of Congress: Helen Chapin Metz, ed.’s Turkey: A
Country Study: “The Young
Turks” (HTML) “World War
I” (HTML) and “Atatürk and
the Turkish Nation”
(HTML)

Instructions: Please read these webpages in their entirety to
better understand Italian control of Turkey. These readings also
address the topics outlined in subunits 1.6.1 through 1.6.4 of this
course.

Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use
displayed on the webpages above.

Instructions: Please read these webpages in their entirety to
better understand British control of Saudi Arabia. These readings
also address the topics outlined in subunits 1.8.1 through 1.8.3 of
this course.

Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use
displayed on the webpages above.

1.8.1 Formation of Saudi Arabia1.8.2 Creation of the Persian Gulf States1.8.3 British Imperialism